Flaws
by Uphill Both Ways
Summary: Everyone has flaws. Ikebukuro has Shizuo. It's up to Izaya to fix that. Two-shot.


The angry surge of heat from the day melted into the liquidized pool of nightfall. Tender wisps of clouds were painted against the portrait sky, a flock of birds splattered against the horizon. The breeze drifted as soothingly as a lover's caress, promise of excitement warming the fringes, though a slight hint of chill touched the atmosphere. The trees whispered _hellos_, rustling against each other, the uneven flickering of aircraft-driven stars visible through the temporary gaps in their branches. The moon balanced dangerously on the fingertips of the skyline, blurring in and out of focus as delicate clouds brushed by.

A beautiful sight to behold, completely unnoticed and irrelevant to the buzzing city below, Ikebukuro night life was a mystery of its own.

"You."

The relative silence was shattered and Izaya was yanked from his reverie. The lithe figure swooped from his crouched position on the roof's railing, turning to greet a familiar illuminated face. The neon glow cast over the two adversaries from the gaudy billboard behind them made one look sickly, the other ethereal. A sharp smirk was drawn over the tight edged jaw of the informant while the tensing form mere feet from his own narrowed a threatening gaze.

"Oh, Shizu-chan, how nice of you to visit me!" Izaya grinned innocently, twirling around to grip onto the railing he'd previously occupied, giving the illusion of vulnerability with his back exposed to Shizuo. But the blond knew better. "Don't you just love the view from up here?" The rhetorical question laced through the air, tightening the tension as no reply was made. Izaya's grin grew all the more demonic as he mulled over his own inquiry; of _course_ Shizuo wouldn't appreciate such a magnificent view—the brute probably couldn't understand art in the _least_, lest Izaya's _masterpiece_ of Ikebukuro. The very thought made an insane sort of chuckle bubble from the brunette's throat, causing him to double over against the railing in a fit of self-assured laughter.

The slender man from across the rooftop watched with disgust, his stomach twisting in the mix of oncoming adrenaline and desire to maim. Shizuo wondered why he hadn't yet thrown the maniacal flea into the depths of the streets he so loved. Cutting into the mocking sound of glee from the other's throat, Shizuo responded slowly.

"As long as you're still up here, the view pretty much sucks."

The laughter cut off abruptly, and a frown wound itself into Izaya's features, though the man it was directed at couldn't possibly see it. The last traces of ringing laughter echoed off of nearby buildings and dissolved amid the whirring of vehicles farther below. Izaya semi-spun against the rusted surface so that he could both use it as support if need be, and face his rising threat.

"Well do you plan on _doing_ anything about that? I can only dedicate so much play-time to you, Shizu-chan, I _do_ have a life to run," Izaya sighed detachedly, waving his hand as if to encourage Shizuo to _get_ _on_ _with_ _**something**_ already. Shizuo growled dangerously, increasing the animalistic comparisons Izaya camouflaged Shizuo's humanity with, and a slight hand that could only bring destruction slipped from his pocket. Izaya's smug smirk returned; it was a signal, and they both knew it. Just like they both anticipated Shizuo's next words while his actions dictated the moment and sent thousands of messages flying with every movement.

"Not for long, flea."

It took that mere split half of a second for Izaya to characteristically pirouette away from the railing he'd so cleverly used as a push-off as a ragged half of the neon billboard came crashing down over the informant's head. A sense of elation blossomed in his chest, watching the lights spark and fizzle out and glittering debris go sailing to the ground below. The plume of dust and smoke from the demolished sign was cut through by sparkling shards of dyed glass that glinted like crimson blood and the backlights of the humming city, and citizens made themselves sparse from the pavement below. Beautiful.

The word that thrummed through Izaya's mind even as he dodged the other half of the billboard, even as the splintered wood skimmed his skin and glass cut into his flesh, beautiful, _beautiful_, _**beautiful**_—everything was still _so_ perfect even as the master of shadowed secrets slipped into the sheath of the night while his enflamed opponent still thundered through the city in a desperate and fiery search. Ikebukuro and all of its inhabitants—_beautiful_. And Izaya was going to make it _perfect_; he was going to be their _savior_, once he got rid of the atrocity that was Shizuo Heiwajima. A tumor in civilized society. And like a mother to her child, Izaya promised the people of Ikebukuro he'd get rid of the monster beneath their bed.

* * *

**A/N: Will be yaoi when updated.**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns?**


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